Is the childhood obesity trend on the decline?

New report brings glad tidings in an otherwise grim year for children's health news.

There's nothing like a little good news on a Tuesday to totally make the week a little brighter. MNN correspondent, Melissa Breyer's post on the decline in childhood obesity in several cities across the U.S. hit me like a beacon of hope in what has otherwise been a rather sad year for children's health news.

So reading a post about how this troubling trend might just be on the decline gives me hope that maybe this is just the tip of the good news iceberg for children's health. I know I shouldn't break out the bubbly just yet. The trend has only really been identified in a few cities across the country. But what is so inspiring is the vast differences in the cities that are reporting declines.

According to Breyer's post, Philadelphia, which has the highest big-city poverty rate in the country, saw declines, as did New York City, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Alaska, and the little town of Kearney, Nebraska. So it's not just affluent communities that are seeing health improvements, it's kids from a variety of socio-economic environments.

Yet in the report upon which Breyer based her post, researchers noted one very important similarity. "The places that are reporting declines are those that are taking comprehensive action to address the childhood obesity epidemic," said the study's authors.

It also means that more communities might soon follow suit in strengthening their own childhood obesity programs. And that means that we might very well see even greater declines across the board in 2013.